Which two sentences use definition 2 of the word literal? linguistics is more than just a literal study of a language. poetry is a literal depiction of a poet's creative imagination. after the robbery in the neighborhood, the police gathered everyone around and asked them to give a literal description of the events. in her report, stacy provided the insurance agents with a literal account of what had happened to her car. as a part of her study of the german language, tania wants to do a literal translation of the german poet goethe's works.